Selma tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the greatest non-violent protests in U.S. history. Ava DuVernay directs this historical drama that captured hearts and minds but also made us ask some questions about historical...

The world is a big place and cinema isn't limited to just the U.S. and Europe. There are a lot of vibrant and influential film movements and cultures from all over the world. In this episode of Crash Course Film History, Craig talks to...

In 2006, a movie took on authoritarianism and the violent aftershocks of the Spanish Civil War—all through the eyes of an innocent young girl and the fairy tale world she discovers in the woods. Pan's Labyrinth is both a beautifully...

Hollywood was riding high until their formula got to be stale. In places like Italy and France (as well as other places in the world we'll talk about soon) filmmakers were starting to break out of the mold and make daring films that...

Black history in the US is rich, profound -- and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers -- the largest national archive of African American...

The Silent Era of Hollywood set a lot of things into motion in terms of how movies were made and sold. Big stars were one of the main ways studios tried to make their movies stand apart from one another and get the public to make choices...

Russia went and had a revolution in 1917 and cinema was a big part of its aftermath. Even though film stock was hard to come by, we saw the first film school started, and the study of film became hugely important. Russian filmmakers...

Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" is a different kind of war movie. It's a multi-genre film that maybe says more about human psychology than it does about war. In this episode of Crash Course Film Criticism, Michael Aranda takes us...

It's Craig's last episode of Film and in it he's going to talk about weird stuff... and real stuff. Experimental and Documentary films could each take up their own Crash Course series. The different styles and intents of different...

Try CuriosityStream todayef='http://curiositystream.com/crashcourse' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>today and use the promo code "crashcourse" to get the first two months free! Is Citizen Kane the BEST MOVIE EVER MADE? Is that even...

When global leaders think about which industries can fuel economic growth, the arts are often overlooked. But filmmaker Mehret Mandefro says the creative sector actually has the power to grow economies -- while also helping safeguard...

Who takes the pictures in a movie? Who is responsible for making a movie look good, or creating meaning with light and shadow, or make an action scene clear and thrilling? A lot of the time, that's the job of the cinematographer. In this...

In this talk and tech demo, filmmaker Diego Prilusky introduces the next chapter in moviemaking: volumetric video, a 360-degree experience powered by hundreds of cameras that capture light and motion from every angle. Check out how this...

Well, here we are. It's the final episode of Crash Course Film Criticism and we're going to chat about one of the more polarizing films ever made: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the surface, 2001 tells the story of human...

Musician and activist Bono accepts the 2005 TED Prize with a riveting talk, arguing that aid to Africa isn't just another celebrity cause; it's a global emergency.

Movies didn't always look like they do now. There was a period (kind of a problematic one) where movies transitioned from short novelties to big, epic, feature films. That's our focus this week as Craig talks to us about the birth of the...

We've spent a lot of time focusing on France and the U.S. as that's where a significant amount of both infrastructure and business models were initially set up for film. But there were other countries adding their own stories to the...

Mainstream American films don’t often tackle race and racism head-on, and when they do, they often end up trying to find easy answers. Which makes films like Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing all the more powerful. It’s an intimate portrait...

Pitching your movie to people can be hard. A studio, a friend, your mom... each of these entities will have different stressed and give you different results. But, what's important in a pitch? And what happens after the pitch? How do you...

It's time to look at some of the most under-sung heroes of the film world, Grip and Electric. Doing everything from setting up dollies and tripods, to helping the cinematographer shape the light with flags and silks, the Grips are there...

Steven Soderbergh is known as much for his Oscar winning tense dramas as he is retiring... then not retiring. He was a part of the indy revolution in the 1980s and 90s that helped usher in a new case of writers and directors who didn't...

James Cameron rocketed onto the action film scene with 1984's "The Terminator" and followed that up with a highly anticipated sequel to the 1979 film, "Alien." His film, "Aliens," would go on to not only be a financial success, but a...

Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak -- the real-life version of the film's eye-popping, tai chi-meets-cyberspace computer interface. Is this how tomorrow's computers will be controlled?

Hank describes how astronomers used a technique called gravitational lensing to find the most distant galaxy ever detected -- and how NASA is embarking on a new program to use this same technique to peer deeper into space than ever...